One scrapped Far Cry 4 idea sounded so cool, the open-world game’s director thinks “that’s where the fun of the whole genre might lie.”
Far Cry is obviously famous for its scene chewing villains – some of which are flamboyant, some of which are menacing, all of which are plain fun – and Far Cry 4 is no different. But the series almost always puts us at odds with the bad guys, so an early idea for the fourquel saw players being able to choose where their loyalties lie.
Speaking to Edge 413 – out now – Assassin’s Creed 3 and Far Cry 4 creative director Alex Hutchinson revealed that a discarded idea for the FPS let players give outposts back to the game’s villain, Pagan Min, after capturing them the first time. Ubisoft’s open-world games are traditionally about conquering/clearing a map, but this idea would’ve let you flip the script.
“Like, if you empathise with the villain – if you think, ‘Actually, I don’t think he was as bad as they said, and I don’t like these people I’ve got into bed with’? That sort of freedom of expression, of going back and changing your mind, I thought could be really, really interesting,” he explained. “I think that’s where the fun of the whole genre might lie.”
Far Cry 7 is nowhere to be seen at the moment, but hopefully an idea like that can creep its way back into the series, especially since Far Cry 6 left me feeling kind of cold when all was said and done.
